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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a strong GOTY contender, but also an enormous sales triumph. Developer the development team along with publisher Kepler Interactive disclosed that this title exceeded five million copies sold, and that’s despite it being a launch-day addition through the Game Pass service.

Its success was a shock to the developers. I firmly believed that we'd create an enjoyable experience that would meet reasonable commercial success,” a key executive explained.

The CTO and lead programmer remarked this title's Metacritic rating, which currently sits at 93, came as the greatest surprise” for everyone relative to our early predictions and the final result of the field was. Because when it dropped all staff members celebrated excitedly. It felt absolutely wild.”

The positive reception resulted in the studio creating a complimentary expansion for the game featuring fresh areas, foes, and boss fights, as announced would be out in the next few months.

However, as the title expands, fans shouldn't anticipate the team will expand. “We have a talented crew under clear creative leadership with a clear direction for our work plus upcoming innovations. We'd like to keep the small-team dynamic that made this possible and perhaps create major titles sequentially,” the executive added.

The size of Sandfall sparked plenty of debate following launch. Certain industry figures, such as the famed director, viewed the development group as a perfect example for creative teams. Although the team is and was truly compact versus large developers, a quick look at the game's credits shows that dozens of people worked on it; the French studio partnered with overseas animators to work on gameplay animations, for example.

“We plan to recruit slightly more definitely should there be next an upcoming production peak down the line,” they commented. “But I would see more of a workshop of a few highly skilled individuals capable of producing a work of art together.” They emphasized that Sandfall’s vision as a studio “is more to maintain the strengths that made this achievement possible in the first place.”

Although it's premature for the studio to say specifically about future projects — believe me, efforts were made — the developers understand their fundamental principles. “Strategic combat, I think it's in the DNA of our creations,” a developer explained. “It's still premature to be able to tell future passions, yet we must to adhere to our creative core featuring rich storytelling and engaging mechanics that drives our passion.”

They noted that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 originated from the creative director pursuing his ideal project. And hopefully this approach we will be able to do in coming projects.”